THE CONGRESS announced on Tuesday evening that senior party leader and MP Rahul Gandhi will be the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.

Announcing the decision after a meeting of the INDIA bloc floor leaders at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, party general secretary in-charge of organisation K C Venugopal said CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi had written to pro-tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab, informing him about the decision. “Other office-bearers will be decided later,” he said.

This will be the first time in 10 years that the Lok Sabha will have a Leader of Opposition. The Congress failed to get the required 10 per cent seats (54) to secure the post in the last two elections. While it had 44 Lok Sabha members in 2014 and 52 in 2019, it now has 98.

The government has appointed Girija Subramanian as chairman and managing director (CMD) of the largest general insurer, New India Assurance, effective from June 19, 2024, until she attains the age of superannuation or until further orders.

Subramanian holds a bachelor's degree in statistics. She is a fellow member of the Insurance Institute of India and also an associate member of the Chartered Insurance Institute, London.

She started her career as a direct recruit officer in GIC Re in 1988. In a career spanning over 34 years, she worked in reinsurance departments across various lines of business, including aviation, life, health, and property classes. Subramanian was the CMD of AIC of India (from September 2022) before assuming charge as CMD, New India Assurance.

Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani is set to be the next Vice Chief of Army Staff with the government clearing his appointment to the post, official sources said on Thursday. The officer, who is presently helming the Army's Central Command, will succeed Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi.

Lt Gen Dwivedi, currently serving as the Vice Chief, will be the next Chief of the Army Staff when incumbent Gen Manoj Pande retires on June 30.

Lt Gen Subramani has been appointed as the next Vice Chief, military sources said.

Taking a significant step towards India and Bangladesh academic jointness encompassing the strategic and operational matter, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries.

“Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC), Mirpur, Dhaka have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation concerning Military Education in the field of Strategic and Operational Studies,” the Defence Ministry said on Monday.

This MoU, added MoD, will assist in enhancing professional acumen, provide deep insight into strategic affairs, assist in sharing best practices and expertise as well as augment the academic capabilities of student officers and faculty members. It will facilitate conduct of training packages, Joint Seminars, faculty exchanges, reciprocal instructor visits to name a few.

Tommy Paul added his name to a list of American tennis greats in winning the Queen’s Club Championships title after defeating Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) in Sunday’s final.

Victory gave the fifth-seeded American his third ATP tour title -- and biggest success of his career -- after he won in straight sets after 88 minutes on court in London.

Paul became the first United States player to win the prestigious Wimbledon warm-up tournament since Sam Querrey in 2010 as he joined a group of former American champions at Queen’s, including John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras -- who all won Wimbledon as well.

Italian world number one Jannik Sinner won his first grasscourt title by edging his doubles partner Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(8), 7-6(2) in the Halle Open final on Sunday.

The win marks the 22-year-old Australian Open champion’s 14th singles career title.

Poland’s Hurkacz and Sinner, who played together in the Halle Open doubles, each saved a break point in the first set, traded aces and held serve forcing a tiebreak which Sinner won.

The top seed had a chance to go 2-0 up in the second set but Hurkacz saved two break points as both players again held their serves before Sinner claimed the title after another tiebreak.

Jessica Pegula triumphed at the Berlin Open on Sunday after a riveting series of matches, featuring a rain-interrupted semi-final against top seed Coco Gauff and a final showdown with Anna Kalinskaya. Pegula, a world-ranked fifth player, began her semi-final on Saturday, leading 7-5, 6-6 (3-1) when rain suspended play. Under cloudy skies on Sunday, she swiftly concluded the match, clinching the final set 7-6 (2).

In the final, Pegula faced a challenging opponent in Russia's Anna Kalinskaya. Despite dropping the first set 6-7(0) in a fiercely competitive exchange, Pegula rebounded with a break in the opening game of the second set, which she won 6-4. The third set saw Pegula taking a 3-1 lead with an early break, only for Kalinskaya to counter with a break of her own, making it 4-4 after saving four break points.

Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today launched the One Week One Lab programme in New Delhi. During the programme, each of the 37 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR laboratories, spread across the country, will showcase their research outcomes and achievements. It will continue till 16th September. The programme will open its doors to the public and invite them to visit its departments and witness its academic and research initiatives. It will also include lectures, workshops, puppet shows, Vigyan Kavi Sammelan, Quizzes and exhibitions on various topics related to science.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh said, during the programme each of the CSIR labs will showcase their exclusive ideas and technological breakthroughs to the people of the country. He said that on the lines of One Week-One Lab in future the CSIR will take the opportunity to spread the contributions of its units to the general public through the 'One Month One Theme' campaign.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved a third consecutive success in the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) or Pushpak Landing EXperiment (LEX) on June 23, 2024.

The third and final test in the series of LEX (03) was conducted at 07:10 IST at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, Karnataka, said a statement issued by ISRO.

According to Wion, in a span of 15 months, the Indian space agency (ISRO) has completed all three autonomous landing tests of its spaceplane 'Pushpak.'

With the third and most complicated landing test accomplished at  7.10 am Sunday, June 23rd, ISRO will now have to work towards launching a larger version of this spaceplane to space on a modified rocket, testing the plane in earth orbit, and demonstrating its capability to re-enter the atmosphere, return to earth safely for a runway landing, the report said. 

The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution to rename the state’s name to 'Keralam'. The resolution was unanimously accepted by the Opposition Congress-led UDF and treasury benches in the Assembly.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved the resolution, urging the Centre to rename the state as 'Keralam' in the Constitution.

The same resolution was adopted in the Kerala Assembly in August 2023 but due to technical reasons, it had to be presented again.